A Friend for Life

Background

The writing of "A Friend for Life" began when Harley visited Cregan at his home in Los Angeles during 2000. On his return flight back to the UK, Harley came up with the song's lyrics. In 2015, Harley recalled: "I was in Los Angeles, staying at Jim's (then) house. We wrote most days and that tune came from one lazy afternoon's messing about. I wrote the entire lyric on the flight home." During 2000, the song was recorded at friend and songwriter Mike Batt's home studio. Batt would also arrange and conduct the song's string quartet, and also played keyboards on the track. The recording of "A Friend for Life" inspired Batt to record extensively at his home and most of Katie Melua's recordings have since been made there.

In 2000, Harley also began working on a new studio album, and began negotiations with various record labels. For an online diary entry on his official website in September 2000, Harley spoke of getting "A Friend for Life" released, as well as plans for a new album:

"Plans to further the recording career at in hand. Negotiations are taking place daily and constantly. I am determined that "A Friend for Life" will be available in the shops and on the radio in time for the next Spring band tour, with an album, God willing, in the can."

By 2001, Harley had come to an agreement with Intrinsic Records over the release of "A Friend for Life" as a single. Despite this, no new studio album would materialise until 2005's The Quality of Mercy. In a January 2001 diary entry, Harley gave an update on the song's release:

"We are pretty sure that "A Friend for Life" will be released mid-March. It should, with a little luck and the efforts of a good plugger, start getting airplay around the country towards the end of February. I can't in all honestly seriously expect a hit record. It will not be released by EMI or Sony, but by a small independent label with a good heart and much belief in the product. But airplay will help sell tickets for concerts, anyway, and to play is my first love, of course."

"A Friend for Life" began to gain airplay in March, and was released as a single in April. This coincided with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's 'Back with the Band' tour - a 38 date UK tour which was the band's first in four years. "A Friend for Life" reached #125 on the UK Top 200 Singles Chart in May 2001, and stayed within the Top 200 for four weeks. It also reached #45 on the UK Independent Singles Chart Top 50.

In December 2003, Cregan was interviewed by Graham Edmundson for the unofficial fan site The Harley Fanzone. Speaking of his role as producer on the song, Cregan revealed:

"We did "A Friend For Life" together which was a real change for me because suddenly instead of Steve being the producer, I was. I thought, "this could be strange" because he had always been the man in charge. Was he going to let go of the reins? How hard was that going to be? But it was fine - he obviously put his two cents in. We have a couple of other songs which haven't been fully recorded yet."

In August 2013, Harley played at the Rewind Festival 2013 and was interviewed after his slot in the show. When asked what song of his he felt was a "hidden gem" and that people should listen to, Harley replied:

"Oh, that's a good question! A hidden gem? There's a song called "A Friend for Life", which I sang today. It touches people of a certain age. A lot of my audience are grandparents, 50s and 60s. It touches them."

Release

The single was released by Intrinsic Records on CD in the UK only, while Pinnacle Records handled its distribution. The song had been licensed to Intrinsic Records by Harley's own Comeuppance Ltd. The single was mastered by Doug Shearer at Sanctuary Mastering in London.

The CD single featured two extra Harley-penned tracks - "Safe" and "Loretta's Tale" - both of which were live tracks, recorded live at the Blomsbury Theatre in London during Spring 2000. "Safe" was originally recorded for the 1996 album Poetic Justice, while "Loretta's Tale" was from Cockney Rebel's 1973 debut album The Human Menagerie.

As Harley and other personnel were happy with the finished 2000 recording, no changes were made to the song when it was later added onto The Quality of Mercy album in 2005. Since then, the song has also appeared on the 2006 EMI box-set release The Cockney Rebel – A Steve Harley Anthology.

Promotion

No music video was filmed to promote the single, however the song did become a regular feature in Harley's live-set. On YouTube, various unofficial videos of Harley and his band performing the song live in recent years have surfaced.

Some live versions of the song have also been released officially. In 2003, the song was included on Acoustic and Pure: Live, which featured Cregan and other guests. In 2004, another live version of the song was included on Anytime! (A Live Set). The song was included in the band's set-list at the Isle of Wight festival in 2004, which was released on DVD in 2005, titled Live at the Isle of Wight Festival.

On 8 January 2011, Harley performed the song live with his acoustic trio line-up and the "Herreavdelingen" radio show's orchestra at the NRK Marienlyst, Oslo, Norway. The performance was professionally filmed, along with "Sebastian" and "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)". Harley also performed the song as a bonus session track for the BBC Radio 2 Bob Harris show Old Grey Whistle Test 40. It was broadcast on 25 September 2011, and in 2012, the recording was released on the BBC box-set compilation The Old Grey Whistle Test Live.

Track listing

1. "The Last Goodbye" - 4:45
2. "Safe (Live)" - 4:08
3. "Loretta's Tale (Live)" - 6:35

Critical reception

In June 2005, Peter Makowski of Classic Rock magazine reviewed the Anytime! (A Live Set) album, and wrote: "Here 'live and unplugged' the former Cockney Rebel takes us through a tour of all the hits and more. But it's the lesser-known material like the emotive "Friend For Life" that makes Harley sound fresh and edgy, like a latter day Libertine."

Following the song's live airing at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005, eFestivals writer Karen Morrison reviewed the band's performance, where she mentioned the song, noting that the song "soothed the night air".

On 9 October 2005, The Sunday Express reviewed The Quality of Mercy album, writing: "A genuine Seventies pop maverick, Harley has evolved into a highly-literate and intimate balladeer. "The Coast of Amalfi," and "A Friend for Life" are elegant if care-worn gems."

In November 2005, Carol Clerk of Classic Rock magazine reviewed the album, stating: "Baring his soul in public for the first time, Steve Harley has produced what might just be his best album to date. "The Quality of Mercy" is brimful of songs that are intensely personal and sometimes harrowing but, musically, very approachable. Here, Harley surveys his reality as a middle-aged father hoping his 25-year marriage will survive the empty-nest crisis. Still, the bright up-tempos of "The Last Goodbye" and the lovely, gentle melodies that carry "Journey's End (A Father's Promise)" and "A Friend for Life" offset the deep anxieties at the heart of the lyrics."

In a negative review of the album from the November 2005 issue of Uncut magazine, Nick Hasted commented: "The acerbic swagger of Harley's real Rebel years is absent on this set with his rechristened road band. Harley's concerns now are adult: fathers and sons, nostalgia and ennui, presented with the self-importance of an adolescent, minus the energy. "A Friend for Life" retains some brutal Cockney bite about married stasis, and "The Coast of Amalfi"'s dope reverie is artful. Otherwise, ignore."

In the December 2005 issue of Record Collector magazine, Nick Dalton spoke of song in a review of the album. He noted: "The band stretches out of the confines of simple rock instrumentation with sawing violin and classical piano, while Jim Cregan, guitarist during the "Make Me Smile" heyday, adds a delicate solo on the reflective "A Friend for Life," one of three tracks he's co-written."

On 26 May 2008, the Liverpool Echo published a live convert review of the band at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The review commented: "His penultimate song was "A Friend For Life" – one of his most beautiful heart-felt ballads."

In a concert review at the Sportpaleis Merksem, Belgium, on 11 December 2010, Concertnews.be wrote: "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel first performed in the Arena during the Golden Years. Three guitarists, one bassist, one violinist, one backing vocal, one keyboardist and a drummer provided a plush sound. Steve Harley himself put much feeling in his voice as in a very weathered version of "A Friend for Life" where a flute player made it even more richer."

A Friend for Life

Safe (Live)

Loretta's Tale (Live)

Other

Rod Stewart version

For inclusion on the studio album Another Country, British singer/musician Rod Stewart recorded a version of "A Friend for Life". Although Stewart had never before covered one of Harley's songs, the pair had been friends for many years. Stewart had described him as "one of the finest lyricists the UK has ever produced", while Harley had helped co-write Stewart's 1980 track "Somebody Special" from his Foolish Behaviour album. He had also offered Stewart his song "Irresistible" during the mid-1980s, who turned it down, advising Harley that he should record it himself. Furthermore, "A Friend for Life" co-writer Jim Cregan is a long-time collaborator with both Stewart and Harley.

After Cregan and Harley had penned "A Friend for Life" in 2000, the song was offered to Stewart. In an online diary entry for his official website, Harley noted in November 2000:

"Gave "A Friend For Life" to Rod Stewart at dinner the other night. He loves the song but said: "I don't like that line about "The cats, I'll feed yer cats..." I'll be releasing my version in the new year, but I am not averse to a world-superstar having a world-wide number one with the song. No matter."

After Stewart recorded the song for Another Country, Harley first revealed that an "international superstar" had recorded one of his songs without revealing who they were in his online diary, dated 22 June 2015. He added: "I believe totally that you will love it. I have it (the superstar sent me a file by email) and it is, for me, a beautiful reading of a slightly complex lyric. That's why the superstar is a superstar, I guess." The following day, 23 June, saw Stewart announce the release of his new album. It was soon made available for pre-order, set for release on 23 October, with "A Friend for Life" as the closing track on the standard edition.

Stewart's version of the song was played on BBC Radio 2, on 31 August 2015, when Stewart appeared on on the "Johnnie Walker Meets..." show. After Walker suggested playing "A Friend for Life" as the closing track for the show, Stewart replied: "Yeah, I'd love you to play that. Steve Harley - one of the most underrated songwriters, good old Steve." Describing Harley's reaction to the version, Stewart commented he was "over the moon." In an October 2015 interview for Classic Rock magazine, Harley commented on Stewart recording the song: "Was I happy with that? Just a bit! Rod really nails it in his old soul voice. Good old Rod."

Speaking to The Leader in November 2016, Harley spoke again of Stewart's version:

"Rod's one of the great song writers. I offered it to him over 10 years ago and he didn't get it, but now he's had these two lovely boys with Penny Lancaster and he gets it because it's a difficult lyric about children growing up and leaving the nest. I thanked him by buying him a fish supper in a very expensive restaurant in Mayfair."